Great Plains Studies, Center for
Date of this Version
Winter 2011
Citation
Great Plains Quarterly 31:1 (Winter 2011).
Abstract
Thomas Gannon's verve animates his investigation and contrast of avian images from British Romantic poets and Native American authors. In the introductory chapter, he provides a steadfast theoretical basis grounded in a syncretic psychological-ecotheory. In the next two chapters he meticulously constructs his view that the British Romantic poets' attempt to connect with nature, specifically birds, at the surface level seems accomplished but, with deeper pondering, falls far short of being convincing. Gannon exposes how western expression of nature cannot capture any essence of subject-subject, that is "I-Thou." The second and third chapters explore examples to show avian representation is at best problematic in the Romantic texts. His conflation of disciplines eclectically includes psychology (Jung, Freud, and Lacan), evolution, and Native American mysticism (Lakota). The last two chapters and epilogue attempt to instantiate contemporary Native American authors-Joy Harjo, Linda Hogan, and Carter Revard among them-as achieving the Romantic goal of unity with nature, not in terms of romanticism, but simply as individual-though explicitly tribal-expressions of worldviews that accept, promote, and expect affinity with nature.
Comments
Copyright © 2011 Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska.